Nikolaj Moller is uncertain about what the future holds for him at Premier League giants Arsenal and admits he was ‘amazed’ that the Gunners wanted to sign him in the first place.
The Swedish striker once played alongside William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe for Arsenal’s reserve team.
With all four of those now firmly established as key members of Mikel Arteta’s first-team roster, Moller would be forgiven for feeling like something of an odd-one-out.
He has not made a single senior appearance for the London giants. And, with his 21st birthday rapidly approaching, that particular ship may have sailed already; an underwhelming loan spell in the Dutch second tier hardly doing his hopes of an Arsenal revival much good.
Does Nikolaj Moller have a future at Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal?
“I love life in the Netherlands. I really feel at home here. In two months, I will be returning to London and it will be quite difficult,” Moller, who has been labelled the ‘new Zlatan Ibrahimovic’ by some, tells Voetbal Zone. “That’s why I try to enjoy every moment I’m here.
“I don’t know how everything will turn out yet. I haven’t had any contact (with Arsenal) about that yet. First, I want to end my time at Den Bosch well and then a new adventure will come my way.
“I really look at my career day by day. I work hard every day to get better and there’s no point in stressing about the future. That doesn’t make you play better football either.”
Moller, a reliable goalscorer for Arsenal at youth level, has just five goals in 21 games on loan at FC Den Bosch this term. It is nearly three years now since he joined the Gunners from Swedish giants Malmo as a teenager for a not-insignificant fee of almost £500,000.
‘Amazed’
“When I heard that Arsenal came to watch a game of mine, I was really amazed,” the 6ft 4ins frontman adds. “As a child I watched more foreign football than Allsvenskan. Barcelona and Arsenal were my favorite clubs.
“When they played in the Champions League, I always watched those games with passion. That’s why it was extra special for me when my father told me that Arsenal came to see me in Sweden.
“I didn’t think about leaving Malmo at all, because I felt completely at home. Until my father woke me up one day and told me that Arsenal came to watch me. I was really amazed.”
“It’s hard to find the right words for that period, it was really beautiful. Although Arsenal is a big club, everything there feels familiar. Everyone looks out for each other, especially when you come from abroad.”
Moller, capped twice by Sweden at U20 level, has just over a year remaining on his Arsenal contract. And if any loaned-out prospect is likely to return to the Emirates before forcing their way into Arteta’s plans, it’s Folarin Balogun; author of 18 Ligue 1 goals at Stade de Reims.
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